Saturday 08-Saturday 22 July 2023

Back in Gaucin for a couple of weeks. During our stay it was mostly sunny and 32-36C during the day, with a peak of 40C on Wednesday 19th. Not the best time for birding, nor ideal weather, but here are a few things of interest that I saw:

In and around the village

Griffon vulture (mostly fairly small groups of 2-6 birds)

Booted Eagle (dark and pale phases)

Short-toed eagle

Sparrowhawk 

Bee-eater (noisy flocks of up to 20 birds just south of, and over, the village)

Common swift 

Pallid swift 

Alpine swift (over the paseo, west of the village, with other swifts)

Barn swallow 

House martin

Pied/white wagtail 

South of the village/Camino de Gibraltar 

Short-toed treecreeper (family party)

Firecrest 

Stonechat 

Bonelli's warbler

Melodious warbler 

Sardinian warbler 

Blackcap

Nightingale (calls heard)

Greenfinch 

Goldfinch 

Chaffinch 

Linnet

Cirl bunting 

Spotless starling

Jay

Great-spotted woodpecker 

Green woodpecker (heard)

Golden oriole (heard only, in trees in the valley below the village)

Woodchat shrike (adult and at least two juveniles)

West slopes of El Hacho

Rock bunting

Southern grey shrike (male singing from top of shrub - possible breeding territory? One was beginning to hang around there back in 2016.....).

Blue rock thrush (including two juveniles)

Woodland behind the gasolinera 

Crested tit 

Long-tailed tit

Firecrest 

Nuthatch (heard)